In a recent interview, United States congressman and a known crypto skeptic Brad Sherman claimed that banning cryptocurrencies is not an option at this point. In a statement to LA Times, the Northridge-area Democrat said that the crypto industry has become quite powerful over the years. He added that the high capital donations to the politicians and strong crypto lobbying make it impossible for them to impose a blanket ban. He explained: “We didn’t ban it at the beginning because we didn’t realize it was important, and we didn’t ban it now because there’s too much money and power behind …

What happens with unreported cryptocurrency? Not reporting Bitcoin despite the obligation to do so may have severe consequences for individuals’ lives and finances. The fine for making an incorrect declaration can be substantial and can even be considered a felony in certain circumstances. Individuals may wonder whether centralized cryptocurrency exchanges actively report to the IRS. Centralized exchanges do issue tax forms to the IRS. Likewise, the IRS has issued so-called John Doe Summons to exchanges, including Coinbase, to request people’s information and catch those who try to cheat on their tax obligations. But, such summonses are not the only law …

It took a few years, but government crackdowns on “insider trading” involving digital assets have finally arrived. It’s about time! Insider trading occurs often in our securities markets, so it was only a matter of time before crypto and other digital assets would be exploited improperly by miscreants for financial gain. On June 1, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York announced a criminal indictment against a former product manager of the OpenSea marketplace, Nathaniel Chastain. He is charged with using the confidential information about which nonfungible tokens were going to be featured on OpenSea’s homepage to …

The ongoing cryptocurrency winter has had little to no impact on global trust in crypto, this was the conclusion reached new study commissioned by Bitstamp exchange. Despite the downward market, global trust in cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) remains mostly unshakable, Bitstamp said in its latest Crypto Pulse report. The study is based on a survey conducted by an independent research firm and involves 28,000 retail and institutional investors in 23 countries, Bitstamp said. The survey suggests that the percentage of global retail investors who find crypto trustworthy has slightly dropped from 61% in Q1 to 65% in Q2 2022. The …

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, or CFTC, have called for comments on a proposal which would require large advisers to certain hedge funds to report exposure to crypto. In a joint proposed rule published to the Federal Register on Sept. 1, the SEC and CFTC established a 40-day comment period for amendments to Form PF, the confidential reporting document for certain investment advisers to private funds of at least $500 million. The proposal suggested qualifying hedge funds report exposure to crypto in a different category other than “cash and cash …

As cryptocurrency investors know, the market moves in cycles. We had the up-cycle when Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) hit their all-time highs, and now the bears are back in town. One of them mauled MicroStrategy founder and executive chairman Michael Saylor this week. In this case, it was a very powerful bear — Washington, D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine — suing the Bitcoin evangelist for allegedly owing $25 million in unpaid taxes. MicroStrategy’s stock price has fallen more than 13% on the news, from $251 on Aug. 29 to less than $220 on Sept. 1. Still, now isn’t the …

The demand for organizations to adopt blockchain technology is growing rapidly. Recent findings from market research and advisory firm Custom Market Insights found that the global blockchain technology market size was valued at $4.8 billion in 2021, yet this amount is expected to reach $69 billion by 2030. While notable, it’s become critical for the industry to enable rigorous research into the development of the blockchain sector. Tim Harrison, vice president of community and ecosystem at Input Output Global (IOG) — the developer arm behind the Cardano blockchain — told Cointelegraph that during the past year, the blockchain ecosystem has …

Lawmakers in California State Assembly 71-0 passed the Digital Financial Assets Law, also known as AB 2269, on Tuesday, Aug. 30. The bill is now in the hands of the state’s governor Gavin Newsom, who will either set it into motion or veto it completely. This bill requires digital asset exchanges and crypto companies to have an operating license given by the state of California's Department of Financial Protection and Innovation. Any operations outside of said license will be prohibited. It would come into effect on and after Jan. 1, 2025. If not followed, perpetrators could receive a civil penalty …

The Golden State of California may be America's most inquisitive state about Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH), new data from CoinGecko has revealed. In a report shared by CoinGecko, internet users from California accounted for a whopping 43% of all Bitcoin and Ethereum web traffic searches on the crypto tracking website. This is despite the entire state population only accounting for 11.9% of the U.S. population. Bobby Ong, COO and co-founder of CoinGecko said it was “unsurprising” that California took the crown in the blue-chip cryptocurrency interest, given its place as a “major technological hub.” California is also home to …

Studies show that most people who attempt to wash trade nonfungible tokens (NFTs) are unprofitable. But that doesn’t stop them from trying, which makes it a glaring regulatory and enforcement issue for the industry. In wash trading, manipulators buy and sell an asset between themselves to create the appearance that the asset is in higher demand and, therefore, worth more than it would be otherwise. With NFTs, wash trading is fairly straightforward: Imagine an investor holds $1 million in Ether (ETH). The investor mints an NFT and proceeds to sell it to themself for all the ETH they own. The …

Christopher Hamilton, a British national allegedly connected to ‘Cryptoqueen’ Ruja Ignatova’s cryptocurrency scheme OneCoin, reportedly faces extradition to the United States on charges related to a scam going back to 2014. According to a Tuesday report from legal news outlet Law360, a judge in the United Kingdom will allow the process to move forward for Hamilton to be extradited to the U.S. on charges of wire fraud and money laundering. Hamilton was allegedly involved in laundering $105 million through the crypto Ponzi scheme OneCoin, which defrauded more than 3 million investors of more than $4 billion through the sale of …

Brian Shroder, the president and CEO of Binance US, received a federal letter requesting the urgent disclosure of official documents that prove the exchange’s adherence to various investor-centric safety protocols. The request comes from a Subcommittee chairman under the United States House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. In the letter addressed to Shroder, Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi from the Subcommittee on Economic and Consumer Policy highlighted the lack of participation from crypto exchanges in helping the US government curb financial fraud and protect investors, stating: “I am concerned by the rapid growth of fraud and consumer abuse. I am also …